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In the media: Insurer pours fresh millions into wind and solar

REN21

"Renewables 2015: Global Status Report"

Paris-based non-profit group REN21 has published its annual report on the global status of renewable energy around the world. The 250-page report underscores the growing role of China as a major player in renewable energies, among many other findings. It also cites Germany as an example that small-scale systems can represent a significant share of renewable energy capacity.

“Fresh millions from insurers for wind and solar parks”

German insurer Allianz wants to invest more money in the renewables sector, according to German weekly WirtschaftsWoche. In the future, Allianz will up its investments by 350 million euros a year in wind and solar parks, the company says. Allianz sees this as a way to compensate for low interest rates and also to make a contribution to the Energiewende, CEO Manfred Knof says. In 2014, Allianz’s investments in the sector rose to over €2 billion.

“A very romantic notion”

A world without coal and oil sounds like a very romantic or indeed unrealistic notion, India’s former environment minister Jairam Ramesh told Die Zeit in an interview. But while India could hardly abstain from fossil fuels in this century, it should not opt for economic growth at any price, Ramesh said. Germany as the leading economy in Europe was giving the Energiewende a “tremendous credibility and authority” while the US had zero credibility in this area. But the country should sell the Energiewende better. “Why doesn’t Angela Merkel make 5 billion euros available to the country that follows suit? If Americans had invented the Energiewende, they would by now have sold it all over the world. Germany is too modest in this regard,” Ramesh said.

Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy

“The future of electricity market design”

State secretary Rainer Baake from the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) and his US-American counterpart Patricia Hoffmann discussed future power market design in a bilateral expert workshop. “We exchanged experiences and ideas about cost-efficient solutions,” Baake said in a presse release by the BMWi. The main areas of discussions were how to incentivise necessary flexibility of both the supply and demand side and how the right market signals can ensure a high degree of supply security.

“Government plans endanger investments in distribution networks”

The German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) and the Association of Local Utilties (VKU), together with 440 distribution grid operators, have written to the government asking for better investment conditions for the development and refurbishment of power distribution networks. 90 percent of all renewable power is fed into the national grid via small distribution networks which therefore need upgrading, a press release says. When elected, the coalition pledged that it would improve investment conditions in this area but a recent ministry proposal would work against this.

Dutch asset manager PGGM will join Macquarie Capital to take a large stake in the German offshore wind farm Baltic 2, according to IPE Investments and Pensions in Europe. Macquarie agreed to buy a 49.89 percent stake in the project earlier this year, IPE says. A PGGM spokesman declined to name the exact size or price of its stake but said the stake was “substantial,” IPE writes.